For Trump, that most likely means living up to his own promises of ending the war – at least, for now – while, for Putin, it means weakening Ukraine and taking as much of its land as he can. Giles also warned: “Putin has given every indication during Trump’s first presidency that he knew precisely how to play him in order to get the maximum possible benefit function.

Earlier reports from the Wall Street Journal indicated that Trump’s team is considering a plan to delay Ukraine’s NATO membership by at least 20 years in exchange for continued Western arms supplies and the deployment of European peacekeepers to monitor a ceasefire.